Cheltenham Festival 2025 Tips - Absent star the value bet in the Ryanair
- Our second ante-post tip for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival
- We've backed El Fabiolo at 7/1 for the 2025 Ryanair Chase
- The 2025 Ryanair Chase will be run at Cheltenham on Thursday 13th March
Paul Townend celebrates on board El Fabiolo after winning the Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices' Chase during day one of the Cheltenham Festival 2023. (Getty)
Here's my second ante-post tip for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, which begins on Tuesday, March 11th.
With no jumps racing to focus on over the next couple of days, I've taken another look through the ante-post betting for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival and found a horse to back now for the Ryanair Chase.
2025 Ryanair Chase Tips - El Fabiolo
There were 34 entries made for the 2025 Ryanair Chase earlier this week, with most bookmakers going 4/1 the field. Fact To File is the market leader, but Willie Mullins has talked about him as a Gold Cup horse for the best part of a year and I'd be surprised if he was dropped in trip simply because he couldn't beat Galopin Des Champs around Leopardstown.
JP McManus' big hope will be Spillane's Tower, who wasn't entered in the Gold Cup and will make his Cheltenham debut in Thursday's co-main event. The top two from last month's King George, Banbridge and Il Est Francais have been entered in the Ryanair too.
Like Spillane's Tower, Il Est Francais has zero Cheltenham experience and Banbridge was thrashed in this contest when the going was too juicy for his liking. If the ground on St Patrick's Day is as soft as it usually is, then I could see both running in the Champion Chase or skipping Cheltenham alltogether.
Gaelic Warrior and Energumene are being trained for the Queen Mother. Grey Dawning will likely go for the Gold Cup. Found A Fifty jumps right. Djelo, Jungle Boogie and Embassy Gardens are unproven at Grade One level and the last two winners of the Ryanair, Protektorat and Envoi Allen are now 10 and 11 respectively.
The stand-out contender has to be EL FABIOLO (7/1), who currently sits fourth in the betting, but will surely go off as the favourite if his return to action goes to plan.
El Fabiolo won the Arkle during his outstanding novice chasing campaign in 2022/23. Willie Mullins' star kicked off last season with easy victories in the Hilly Way and at the Dublin Racing Festival, before carrying a price of 2/9 into the Champion Chase.
Jumping the first fence, you could see that something was wrong with the favourite and Paul Townend wasted no time in pulling the market leader up once he began to lose ground after the fourth. El Fabiolo's jumping was poor again on his final outing of the season in the Celebration Chase, where he was still only beaten four lengths by Jonbon, who is at his best on decent ground and his record around Sandown is impeccable.
We're yet to see El Fabiolo this season, after Mullins' star met with an early-season setback. Most are expecting Willie's eight-year-old to make his comeback in the Dublin Chase. However, I fancy Mullins might give El Fabiolo the full Allaho treatment and send him to the Horse And Jockey Chase at Thurles in late January before heading to the Ryanair Chase.
2025 Cheltenham Festival Ante-Post Tips
| Name | Race | Price Taken | Current Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kopek Des Bordes | 2025 Turners Novices' Hurdle | 14/1 | 14/1 |
| El Fabiolo | 2025 Ryanair Chase | 7/1 | NA |
Verdict
El Fabiolo remains one of the highest-rated chasers in training and Willie Mullins said at the start of the season that the plan was to step up in distance. Course form and the ability to cope with softer ground is vital when it comes to finding the Ryanair winner and this former Arkle winner is at his best on juicy ground.
If back to his best, El Fabiolo will take some stopping in the 2025 Ryanair Chase. It's a risk, given his recent inactivity, but 7/1 could turn out to be an excellent price.
If back to his best, El Fabiolo will take some stopping in the 2025 Ryanair Chase. It's a risk, given his recent inactivity, but 7/1 could turn out to be an excellent price.
El Fabiolo
2025 Ryanair Chase Ante-Post Tip
@7/1 - 10 Units
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